


A Captain's Worth

by thricetroubles



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-18
Updated: 2011-09-18
Packaged: 2017-10-23 20:44:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/254800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thricetroubles/pseuds/thricetroubles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin had had enough - so he decided to walk out on MJN.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title: A Captain's Worth  
> Prompt: A fill to the cabinpres-fic prompt ["Mad dash through an airport terminal"](http://cabinpres-fic.livejournal.com/1249.html?thread=1436897#t1436897).  
> Disclaimer: Cabin Pressure is the property of John Finnemore and BBC Radio 4.  
> Acknowledgment: Many thanks to [persiflage_1](http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/) for Brit-picking and Beta-reading the fic. All errors are mine.

_No, I am not doing anything rash. This decision is NOTHING rash. In fact, I should have seen this coming long ago…_

Captain Martin Crieff, soon-to-be former employee of MJN Air, walked through Hong Kong International Airport in what he hoped to be a powerful, determined stalking-walk. Unfortunately, to the passers-by he looked more like a nervous rabbit madly hopping across some meadow trying to lose its predator instead.

Truth be told, at this point only Martin himself knew he was going to be a former employee soon. He had left his resignation letter onboard Gertie when he paid the dear old girl a last visit, and he had also laid his uniform jacket and his treasured captain’s hat on his old pilot seat. Because where he was now heading he would not need them, and honestly, he thought, if he kept them instead, knowing Carolyn, she would definitely sue him for still holding onto company property after leaving MJN just to threaten him into going back to work for nothing.

While his superego scolded him for mentally badmouthing others, his Id counter-argued that it wasn’t as if Carolyn had not kept him only because he was free and she could not, and would not, pay some pilot a captain’s salary to fly Gertie. Defeated by fact, his superego nevertheless questioned his Id on the choice of leaving the company unannounced and _in Hong Kong_.

 _You do realize that they will need to find another captain to fly them home?_ His superego, always the considerate, law-abiding side of Martin, asked with concern. It had been trying non-stop to get Martin to stop, to return to Carolyn and Douglas and Arthur, and to fly everyone home before leaving MJN.

 _Yeah, you are_ needed _to fly everyone home. As if Douglas would not be happily sitting in your place, just too glad to literally spread his wings without you around restraining him from doing whatever glorious stunts an old sky-god could supposedly be doing!_ His Id answered, in its typical sour and cynical voice. Listening in as if he himself was not involved, Martin idly wondered why every time Douglas humiliated him his Id could not just come out and hit back, _hard_? After all, all these internal arguments had proved that his Id could be quite mean when it chose to.

 _But you have a responsibility to your fellow colleagues, even if you do not think of them as friends anymore!_

 _I thought we had gone through this particular argument before?_ His Id sneered, doing a perfect impersonation of Professor Snape from that Harry Potter DVD he had been forced to watch by a well-meaning student some months ago. _When Carolyn told you that she had already been paying you for all you are worth this very morning, I thought you agreed that people who could not value you would not be counted among your friends nor worthy of your continued, misplaced loyalty?_

 _Now, you really are being unfair – we all know that Carolyn can sound very mean when she is unhappy, and hey she does have on her hands an account book that absolutely refused to be balanced! And I was not talking about loyalty or worth – I was saying whether it is decent to just leave your colleagues behind without leaving them a backup! Maybe they aren’t something, but as a responsible individual who prides himself on how responsible he is, should you not at least be responsible for this one last time and maintain your reputation to the last?!_

Oh yeah _, now decency and pride are the big questions of the day – as if you can face either Carolyn or Douglas without breaking into tears. How prideful would that be? You saw how Douglas smirked when he heard Carolyn’s “comments”! If they don’t bother to behave decently, why demand that you be decent? More to the point, this_ is _the perfect opportunity! Walk out on them now, you dolt, and they would at least “miss” you as long as they take to find a new pilot to take them home. And you could not deny that this opportunity is God-sent, could you?_

Halting his internal arguments of whether it was a God-sent opportunity Martin reflected on the circumstances that led to this. After Carolyn’s rather cruel comments and the subsequent rough landing, her temper had grown even more unpredictable so Martin, deciding that he’d rather sacrifice his purse than stay within the sight of Carolyn, fled to the restaurants instead. Douglas, smug bastard that he was, chose to tag along and repeated the comments like a broken record while improvising smartass variations all the way, possibly as a revenge for the word game he had lost to Martin, of all people, on the last flight. At the end, Martin chased Douglas away successfully ( _Now, that was a first!_ His Id had not forgotten to supply.) with glares promising Douglas that if he did not disappear from Martin’s sight at once, Martin would crash Gertie the next time they flew her just to silence Douglas _forever_. Sitting alone in a foreign airport at a fast food restaurant busy thinking about a way of getting back to Britain without needing to pay for an air ticket, Martin realized that his chance of walking out on MJN was not that high. And that was when that God-sent opportunity came.

Visiting the washroom after his meal – admittedly it wasn’t much, for Martin could not afford the expensive dishes, but there was this fast-food chain that offered a discount for crews and airport staff, and he managed to find something that cost only around £2 – he literally walked into Matthew Carey, an old acquaintance from the flight school. They were almost friends, but after Matthew succeeded after his fifth attempt at getting his CPL, they were so busy living their own lives that they gradually lost contact. Matthew, bless him, recognized Martin immediately and inquired after him warmly, making Martin wondered if they felt that close simply because they were both considered failures by their schoolmates. In the course of catching up he found out that Matthew had ended up as an airline captain of another small charter company, one that was only slightly bigger than MJN since it had three planes instead of one. Martin had toyed with the thought of asking if Matthew was paid, but he decided that he didn’t want to know the truth since Matthew definitely appeared to be more well-off than he was, and he did not want to lose the little bit of respect he still got from his almost-friend.

While they were on the topic of work, Matthew told Martin that his plane was stalled in Hong Kong because his First Officer, a fun-loving chap, had fallen ill owing to allergic reactions towards some spices in all the hotpots he had consumed in Chengdu. And his company had ordered him to fly back to Britain as soon as possible because the CEO had pre-paid part of the cost for the annual check-over of the plane scheduled four days later and he was not about to lose the pre-payment money. Concentrating on trying to comfort Matthew, who was now obviously distressed by all those threats hanging over his head and the impossibility of flying home without a co-pilot, Martin almost jumped in surprise when Matthew asked whether Martin was on active duty. Matthew continued by explaining that his company would probably be willing to pay Martin a full captain’s salary and a bit more if Martin could serve as his FO and help flying the plane back to UK.

 _Is luck finally on my side? After I decided to give up flying?_ Martin wanted to smack fate on its head, but since he could not get hold of fate, he decided to do the next best thing -

Martin said yes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Cabin Pressure is the property of John Finnemore and BBC Radio 4.  
> Acknowledgment: Many thanks to [persiflage_1](http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/) for Brit-picking and Beta-reading the fic. All errors are mine.

Thinking about all this now, when Martin was walking through the airport to the terminal where Matthew’s plane was parked, Martin was not too sure whether it was a good idea. But he had already agreed to the terms, his disillusionment and anger (actually it was more like grief – the grief that some part within him had died, but Martin was still in denial about it) had done for him what his responsible superego and flight-loving and easily-intimidated ego could not do: walking out on MJN. With his resignation placed right on the control console of Gertie and Matthew’s plane cleared for flying within the next hour, Martin knew that there was no way back. Even if he was to walk out on Matthew as well, he could not go back to MJN because Douglas, even lazy and irresponsible as he was, would at least return to the flight deck at least 30 minutes before their flight. So even if Carolyn had not discovered that one of her pilots was missing, Douglas possibly would have seen the resignation and the uniform by now.

Maybe, maybe, in a small corner in his heart, Martin knew that maybe he had over-reacted now – or under-reacted in the past. It was not the first time Carolyn had talked to him in _that_ tone, nor the first time Douglas had teased him after he was scolded by Carolyn. But Martin had reached his breaking point. The comment on his worth (or the lack of) was the final straw – it was a repeated motif in his life, used constantly by his family and schoolmates. Martin did not have a choice of walking out then. And now he would be damned if he voluntarily stayed behind and let his company belittle him.

Forcing himself to focus for Matthew’s flight – and very possibly the last flight of his life, Martin could not help wondering what Douglas and Carolyn’s reactions might be. Arthur he could always tell: Arthur would probably cry, sobbing like a child and demanding that his mother ask his Skipper to come back, and insisting that Douglas would have a way to fix everything. Then when a new captain came, he would start saying how brilliant the new captain was and would gradually forget him. Carolyn would possibly be torn between sadness and worries – sad that her free slave was now gone, and worried about where to get another one. But all these emotions would have nothing to do with him and everything to do with company finance. Douglas would possibly be a bit unhappy, after all the old sky-god sustained his god-delusion by putting others down, and one less Martin meant one less target. But this would also have nothing to do with him and everything to do with Douglas’s ego. And it was not like Douglas could not amuse himself with any new captain, or new first officer as Douglas was lucky (Martin knew he always was), so Douglas would not be affected at all.

He was sorry for Arthur though. The man-child had done nothing except try to please everyone and had genuinely liked him as a friend, but one friend in the land of enemies would not be enough to save Martin Crieff.  
  
 _But there was really no way back._ Martin reasoned to himself. All three parts of himself. _Flying is my life, but pride is what sustained life itself. How many times, when I simply wanted to die, have I stopped in time because of the fear that I would show up in the local newspaper_ _,_ _and Simon_ _,_ _and my secondary school_ _“_ _friends_ _”,_ _and those members of my family who thought I was a failure would know then for certain that I was a real failure? It was pride, I know, and I know it was nothing healthy. But when a man is so poor that he has only his pride, what would I have then now that my pride is close to being destroyed? I am sorry, Arthur, I would make it up to you if I could, but not now, and not by coming back –_

“Martin!”

Martin did not turn, it was possible someone was calling out for another Martin. After all, who would be screaming for him in this remote former colony of the British Empire? He knew no one here, except the MJN crew and Matthew, and Matthew had already gone ahead to check his plane.

“Martin! Please stay!”

And now his mind was tricking him into believing that Douglas Richardson of all people was capable of asking him to stay with what sounded like sincerity and urgency. _Bless you, my mind_ , Martin thought bitterly, _I know I would not be missed so there is no need for you to cushion my feelings with an impossible daydream. But thanks for the effort anyway…_

“Skip! Skip!”

“MARTIN CRIEFF YOU DOLT!!!!”

Okay, so it was really him that Carolyn and Arthur were shouting at now. Martin turned, and saw that Carolyn, Douglas and Arthur seemed to be running towards him. Watching in detached amusement, Martin suddenly found that he could hardly believe Douglas could actually out-run Arthur, which he had never thought possible since Douglas always avoided any exercise that required him to actually move, Ipswich's exercises included. But even if Douglas out-ran Carolyn and Arthur, they were still many yards away, and could only push forward with some difficulty through the crowds, as the Hong Kong Airport was always still rather busy in early evenings.

The sight of Douglas literally elbowing a passer-by away while Arthur apologised lousily brought Martin back to Earth. And since he was still Martin (even though he had decided to walk out on MJN uncharacteristically) Martin panicked. And before he realized what he was doing, Martin had abandoned all pretences of control and determination, and broke into a run.

While he was on the run – a run which Martin was also not quite certain why, seeing that Carolyn could not demand him to pay her part of his salary due to his lack of advance notice – Martin mused on the ridiculousness of the scene. Here he was, in a foreign airport with his uniform shirt on, clearly indicating him to be some sort of a pilot, running through crowds of people shouting out “excuse me!” to people ahead of him while an air steward, a pilot, and an airline CEO tailed behind him doing exactly the same thing. _If people don’t know better they’d probably think we were shooting a film, a comedy in fact. Will the audience laugh when they finally realize that the story was about a captain who failed_ _in everything except out-running his former company?_

And maybe luck was not on his side after all. Turning right, Martin thought that he saw the gate to Matthew’s plane. Matthew was standing there with a smile, holding what seemed to be his FO’s hat to welcome him aboard personally. Thinking that making a mad dash to Matthew might arouse suspicions, and he had no wish to explain to Matthew how worthless he was as a pilot, Martin started to reduce speed to make a soft landing –

And got caught by his shoulder and was turned around forcefully so that he was standing face-to-face with his former First Officer, who was now not only out of breath but looking positively murderous.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Cabin Pressure is the property of John Finnemore and BBC Radio 4.  
> Acknowledgment: Many thanks to [persiflage_1](http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/) for Brit-picking and Beta-reading the fic. All errors are mine.

_One good thing_ , Martin’s mind supplied as if it was in no way involved in the current mess that his life was fast becoming, _is that Douglas might not be as murderous as he looks_. But besides how Douglas looked, Martin had no way of assessing his judgment on whether Douglas was trying to kill him. Because all he was aware of was that Douglas was now pulling him towards the direction of Carolyn and Arthur, with the two of them closing in. Martin was struggling frantically, his previous determination fleeing and failing him at the critical moment. And to his horror he found that his tears were falling, fast. And it had not helped that Douglas seemed to be moving his mouth and talking, but Martin could honestly not hear a word of it.

 _Like a silent movie. My life as a silent, black and white tragedy, as if tragedy in itself is not enough –_

And between all this pushing and yelling and pulling, Martin, though being the slim one with muscles, was tackled onto the ground by Douglas, who despite his lack of exercise won instead by his bigger build and urgency. After being trapped by Douglas on the floor, Martin suddenly could hear again. The impact and the freezing coldness emitted from the airport floor combined was more than enough of a wake-up call for him.

“Be still, Martin, can’t we talk this out in a civilized and mature manner?”

“Release me, Douglas! I am not your captain anymore – you can’t just order me around!”

“I thought the reverse should be the case, _Captain_?”

“Really? How often?! And aren’t you glad that you are going to be captain now, _Captain Richardson_?!”

“I do not want – Martin!” _What Douglas had stopped himself from saying mid-sentence?_ Martin’s mind pointed out, but Martin did not have the time to handle this since he had to concentrate on getting away from Douglas, _fast_.

Of course the brawl between two men in uniform would be very obvious, now Matthew, fearing for his friend’s safety while having absolutely no idea on what was happening, started running towards Douglas to help his friend. Arthur and Carolyn’s timely arrival (or untimely, it really depended on one’s point of view) also complicated matters. Soon everyone was shouting, screaming, pulling and pushing, and Martin was being swept off his feet by none other than Arthur who decided that his precious skipper might get hurt because Douglas and Matthew had to start a shouting match while Martin was still lying trapped on the floor between them. And it turned out that maybe having the same blood in the system would mean better coordinated actions in case of emergency, because Carolyn promptly snatched Martin from Arthur’s arms, and the two Knapp-Shappeys then started marching Martin away as if he was a prisoner of war in such perfect coordination that seemed like it had been rehearsed for a thousand times. _And_ Martin’s mind had not forgotten to comment cynically about how Ipswich would have been a success if they could coordinate half as well as they were now doing.

“Carolyn, you... you can’t do this to me, I... I am not your employee anymore!” The words came out a lot less forcefully than he would have liked, but alas, for someone who was sobbing and talking at the same time, Martin already sounded more forceful than his usual self.

“NO, _Captain Crieff_ , I never received your resignation letter – Douglas burnt it once he saw it on the flight deck!”

“Then it is your company’s disciplinary problems! I had resigned!” Anger had done for him what confidence failed to do for a lifetime – made Martin stutter less.

“No you are not! Since I had not received that bloody letter!”

“You are just sorry because you lost a free slave!”

“Martin!” Carolyn stopped suddenly, sending her son and Martin stumbling onto the floor. When Martin was falling, his ears were filled with Arthur’s screams (understandable, of course). But was it hurt in Carolyn’s eyes that he was seeing? And Martin started to feel a bit confused – Douglas sounded urgent, Carolyn sounding hurt, Arthur was crying his eyes out ( _okay maybe not literally, that would be really scary_. His heart idly remarked) and Matthew was now shouting for airport security. And with all this pushing and pulling and turning around he was starting to feel dizzy –

 _Ooops._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Cabin Pressure is the property of John Finnemore and BBC Radio 4.  
> Acknowledgment: Many thanks to [persiflage_1](http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/) for Brit-picking and Beta-reading the fic. All errors are mine.

When he woke up he was on a sofa in a strange office. He looked around and saw a few men in airport security uniforms, so he reasoned that it would be the airport security office that he was in. The officer talking with Matthew and Carolyn seemed mightily confused, and when he saw Martin waking up he made a bee-line towards where Martin was, his hope that Martin might solve a mystery for him apparent on his face.

“Captain Martin Crieff?”

“Ye... yes?” It had not helped that after the incident with the Boston airport security, Martin had developed a certain unhealthy degree of fear for people in security uniform in general.

“Here both Captain Carey and Mrs. Knapp-Shappey claimed that you are an employee of their respective companies. Which airline are you actually working for, Captain?”

“...Cap... Captain Carey’s.”

“But I still have the contract, Martin!” Of course Carolyn would protest, though why on earth she would look hurt Martin could still not figure out – after blacking out he felt even more confused than before.

“I... I resigned!”

“I NEVER received that letter!”

“......’cos you bu... burnt it!”

“I didn’t! Douglas did!”

“How could I know it was a resignation letter? ‘Ooops, it’s gone!’” It figured that Douglas would make it sound like unknown letters getting burnt was something rather usual in their company.

“I think it is now obvious that Captain Crieff is working for Air Noch, can we go now? My plane should have been in the sky now if these... these _people_ had not stopped us from taking off!” Funny how Matthew could make “people” sounded almost like an insult. Martin made a mental note about asking him how to do this later.

“If I make you coffee, Skip, will you come back?” Sensing that the current negotiation was not going anywhere (or perhaps he just could not understand what his Skipper and Mum and Douglas were shouting about), Arthur decided to start his own negotiation instead.

“Will you all SHUT UP!” shouted the most Alpha of Alpha Dogs, Carolyn Knapp-Shappey, and everyone stilled on her command. “Now, Mr. Cheung,” she gestured at the security officer in charge, “Give us 5 minutes with Captain Crieff, will you? It will be solved by then.” And without waiting for the officer’s reply, Douglas and Arthur had started to drag Martin into the next room, which happened to be conveniently empty, with Carolyn following closely and shutting the office door, leaving the officer and Matthew to voice their objections in the other room.

 _Okay, where were you when they did all these exercises?_ asked Martin’s mind in a rather persistent manner.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Cabin Pressure is the property of John Finnemore and BBC Radio 4.  
> Acknowledgment: Many thanks to [persiflage_1](http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/) for Brit-picking and Beta-reading the fic. All errors are mine.

Once in the office Martin automatically pressed himself into the corner furthest away from the MJN crew. His Id and superego started debating about how probable it was that Carolyn and Douglas might try to kill him then hide the body. After his superego assured him that even though Douglas was clever he could not have succeeded under 5 minutes, his body started to relax.

Just barely enough for him to realize that he was being hugged. By Carolyn.

“Martin, Martin. I am sorry. So sorry.”

GOOD HEAVENS! Was this the first time he had ever heard Carolyn openly admit to being wrong about him – _about him_? Behind her, Douglas started to look a bit red in the face, then he spoke up slowly as if he was doing something that demanded a lot of courage on his part.

“Martin, listen, I am also sorry for all the teasing I have done in the past. And we never meant what we said...” The ‘we thought you should already know that by now’ was mercifully left out. Both Douglas and Carolyn were smart enough to avoid it least Martin thought that he was getting the blame again.

Arthur, who seemed to be getting what Douglas and Carolyn were saying (or maybe not), shouted out, “I know! We could do an Ipswich people course together! I mean, if it is Mum and Douglas not saying what they really say and Skip not knowing that they are not saying what they are saying, then we can go to those Knowing People course and Mum and Douglas will know how to say what they want to be saying and Skip will know what they are saying when they are saying it. Brilliant!”

And with the last line Arthur promptly attached himself onto his Skip again, “And Skip will not need to leave us because Skip will know that we love him and Skip can stay and I will be cooking lots and lots and lots of yummy food for Skip! And lots and lots of coffee with everything in it! I know it! Can we make a new hat for Skip, Mum? Hats make people happy! If we make Skip a lots, say a million lots, of new hats Skip will be really, really, REALLY happy!”

“Love?” Martin asked a bit faintly. He got lost in Arthur’s lengthy speech as usual, but at least he managed to catch the opening bit.

“Yeah! Mum talked about you and Douglas all the time! She is always talking about how we must save more and fly more so that we can make a prophet... no profat... huuh profit?... to give you a pay-... pay... uh whatever Douglas got! Mum even asked me if I would like you to come and live with us, since Mum said that you are family, and no family should be put in an attic like an unwanted teddy bear! And I had been building a really, really big aeroplane model and I wanted to paint the walls blue, bright sky blue with lots and lots of fluffy clouds, because Skip cannot live in a room without an aeroplane and Skip likes flying in the sky!” Carolyn started to look a bit embarrassed, while Douglas could be seen smirking behind her.

“And Douglas loves you too! That gift, that big red mug with ‘Captain’ on it you got last Christmas was from him!” Martin had thought it was a secret gift from Arthur, but from Douglas? _Douglas? Was it even possible?_ And Douglas could be seen in the background sighing heavily and muttering something like, “Arthur you promised! You clot!” Arthur, without paying attention to Douglas, pressed on, “Douglas said a lot of bad things about Jack and Harry and Peter but never you, Skip!”

“Who are they?” Martin simply failed to follow.

“Former captains of MJN.” Carolyn explained.

“And Douglas said that you are far too thin so that we should fatten you up and he has been buying those chocolate cupcakes and biscuits, and he said I should cook a lot more for you, ‘cos you like new dishes!”

“NO ARTHUR you CLOT!”  
“Douglas Richardson you are trying to poison me with Arthur’s cooking!?”  
The two pilots in the room shouted out in unison.

“Hey! I am not a clot! Douglas, you are a clot!”

“Are you actually trying to help, Arthur? Because if you are then you are a clot because only a clot would try to help with something by making it even worse!”

“SHUT UP!” The mighty Alpha Dog barked again and everyone submitted to her rule once more. _But I am not working under her, not anymore, so why am I still obeying her?_ Martin wondered, but could not help standing still for Carolyn’s further commands. “Martin, I have only one question for you. Will. You. Stay?”

Funny thing how Carolyn could make this simple question sound both threatening and pleading at the same time.

“Martin,” After what felt like an eternity – _more like less than 45 seconds,_ his mind supplied with the unusual bit of knowledge he acquired when he saw that BBC documentary on the lost French 747 Flight, _but if you are falling out of the sky inside Gertie you would feel like eternity as well, and Gertie would have fallen at least 19,000 feet within 45 seconds_ – he was snapped out of his own thoughts by his former co-pilot. “Please, just say yes.”

Martin looked up, expecting Douglas to be smirking or _something_. What he had not expected was that Douglas had extended his hand towards Martin, as if he was making a marriage proposal.

“What are you doing, Douglas?” Martin feared that if he did not stop Douglas at once, he would go down on his knees.

“Sorry, force of habit. Must be because I am only sincere and serious when I propose to someone, so I don’t know how to be sincere and serious in a non-marriage-related scenario?” Douglas withdrew his hand, but still tried to keep his tone light and cool. It was failing a bit – even Martin could tell Douglas was quite anxious for the reply.

“Skipppppppppp... Staaaaaaaaaay pleeeeeeeeeeeeeassssssse......” _Ah, the legendary Arthur-plead, effects maximized by teary kicked-puppy eyes._ Martin decided that such a weapon of mass destruction should really be outlawed, so that ordinary, sane people would not be driven to make insane decisions by it.

But since “Arthur-plead” had not yet been outlawed, one ordinary, sane Martin Crieff could do nothing but to surrender to it...

“......yes.” he whispered under his breath.

Carolyn and Douglas sighed in relief, while Arthur, with a “Hoooooooray!” loud enough to shake the office walls, crashing into his Skipper at full speed. Carolyn and Douglas followed suit almost immediately, and while they had approached him less forcefully, they made it up by hugging him (and Arthur since he was in the way) so tightly that he could hardly breathe. Or was it because he was choking on tears?

And now Martin was literally being squeezed into the office corner and smothered to death by his friends and family.


	6. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Cabin Pressure is the property of John Finnemore and BBC Radio 4.  
> Acknowledgment: Many thanks to [persiflage_1](http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/) for Brit-picking and Beta-reading the fic. All errors are mine.

5 hours later found Captain Martin Crieff flying side-by-side with Captain Matthew Carey in his full MJN uniform, on Matthew’s plane.

The flight was far from boring – after having to explain to Matthew about what had actually happened, Matthew’s interests turned to the exact relationship between Martin, Douglas and Arthur. After all, it was highly unusual that a First Officer would almost sit on his Captain to prevent him from escaping from the company, and the air steward was seen hanging onto his Captain like a baby monkey when they exited the office and breaking into tears when he heard that his captain would not be coming home with him.

And no amount of explaining from Martin could actually explain why Douglas, Martin’s First Officer, had managed to squeeze himself into the tight flight deck as a “Reserve Second Officer, Unpaid”. Said Second Officer smirked slightly, trying to enjoy his Captain’s predicament while avoid being seen smirking by the aforementioned captain. And when his Captain stuttered on, he finally showed mercy on his Captain and threw Matthew an explanation:

“Because I was asked to keep an eye on Martin least you try to _lure_ him away, _Captain Carey_.”

Martin tried to stare at Douglas to show his disapproval. Really, Matthew was also his friend. Did Douglas have to be so mean with him? But Matthew simply snickered in a knowing way that suggested he misunderstood the explanation entirely.

 _Oh_ _,_ _oh._ Martin thought.

  
Now that his mind had become clear, he thought that maybe insisting on flying with Matthew had not been the brightest idea he’d ever had. But a promise was a promise, and since Carolyn could not take off anything from his salary ( _not yet_ , his mind corrected him. Because after that “worthless” comment Carolyn was a bit desperate to show her true regard for her Captain. Unfortunately company finances would not be improved just through sheer desperation, so Martin ended up agreeing to flying for minimum wage and a room in Carolyn’s house), Martin insisted that he would fly for Matthew.

Carolyn tried to protest, after all there was also Gertie that needed to be flown by two pilots in order to go back to Fitton. Maybe not as urgently because Gertie’s next scheduled flight would be at least a week away, but Carolyn still needed both of her pilots here in Hong Kong. Finally it was Douglas who saved the day (again) by a very, very simple suggestion:

“Carolyn, maybe you want to show our Captain your regards to him... financially?”

So it was agreed that Martin would fly with Matthew, while Carolyn would pay for Martin’s air ticket from England to Hong Kong so that Martin could fly Gertie back. Even Martin thought that it was a weird, roundabout way to settle the problem, yet between his obligation to a true friend (since Matthew did try to get into a brawl in order to help him and no one had ever done that before), and his newly recovered loyalty to his company and family, this was the only way to go. But Carolyn’s face had told Martin that she was still not at ease and had fears about Martin attempting to run away again. And with a strange look Carolyn had insisted that Martin had to wear his full uniform, jacket and hat included, when he was flying Matthew’s plane because, in her own words, “Martin should present a professional image of a MJN Air Captain all the time, even when he is in the _temporary_ employment of another company”.

Martin, being the slightly masochistic person that he was – oh well this adjective was the one supplied by his mind, since his mind had argued that, _if you were not a glutton for degrading treatments and punishments why did you start working under Carolyn without payment?_ – felt strangely pleased by this rather “territorial” treatment from Carolyn. He could finally feel that he was valued, needed and protected in a that-one-was-under-my-protection-and-rule-and-no-one-messes-with-him way (or simply known as the Carolyn-the-Alpha-Dog way). He was even more surprised to hear that Douglas insisted on tagging along (even to the point of temporarily demoting himself, something Martin had never dreamt Douglas was capable of) and at his own monetary expense since Carolyn would only be paying for Martin’s ticket. Douglas strangely seemed not to mind that as well. The only one that really minded was Matthew, after all his plane was his territory, and he and Douglas had just had the pleasure of getting to know each other through a shouting match. But with Carolyn’s condition of “no Douglas, no Martin”, Captain Carey could hardly do anything but to take Douglas on. Arthur wanted to come too, but after a quiet word and a tiny gift from Douglas, Arthur had sprang away merrily, not before giving his Captain a big goodbye kiss on the cheek and making Martin promise that he would return as soon as possible.

And now, at above 30,000 feet in the sky and in someone else’s plane, Martin could start to feel that he was needed and valued by his newly adopted family once more.

  
Seeing his Captain’s startled look, Douglas knew that his Captain finally realized what Matthew might have been thinking about that “lure-away” statement. Between Martin’s explanations (that only made Martin sounded defensive, really) and Matthew’s reassurance that no, he did not care what Martin’s relationship with his co-pilot and steward was, and Martin would still be his friend no matter what, Douglas smirked a bit – umm, wait until his esteemed Captain to come home to Fitton he would first find that he lost his attic’s keys (since a certain friend of his had accidentally borrowed it when he was hugging Martin), and all his belongings in the attic. Then he would find out that Arthur and Carolyn had moved all his things into the biggest guestroom in Carolyn’s house, decorated by _Arthur_.

Yes, maybe Carolyn had made him promise that he could not tease Martin in any mean way from now on, but it would not stop him from teasing Martin _affectionately_. Right?


End file.
